Obs. [OE. forstandan, f. FOR- pref.1 + standan to STAND.]
1. trans. To oppose, withstand; to bar.
In quot. 1599 perh. = ‘neglect’ (cf. FORSIT, or read foreslow’d).
a. 1000. Boeth. Metr., i. 44. Ne meahte þa seo wea laf wiȝe forstandan.
c. 1205. Lay., 20159.
| Arður wende his speres ord, | |
| and for-stod heom þene uord. |
1599. Life Sir T. More, in Wordsw., Eccl. Biog. (1853), II. 58. He fore-stood nothing for the happie expedition of the same.
[1892. Stopf. Brooke, E. E. Lit., II. xxv. 264. The yellow waters waxed more and more and men fled to the caves, but a mighty angel there forstood them, and sprinkled gleaming fire over the burg.]
2. = UNDERSTAND. [Cf. Ger. verstehen.]
c. 888. K. Ælfred, Boeth., v. § 3. Uneaþe ic mæȝ forstandan þine acsunga.
1682. New News from Bedlam, 47. How the Tories, the Tantivies, and the Papists will approve of it, we cannot forestand.
1768. A. Ross, Helenore, 145.
| A cripple I’m not ye forsta me, | |
| Tho’ lame of a hand that I be. |
